Handle for burial-caskets, &amp;c.



PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904 G. A. SGHEHR. HANDLE FOR BURIAL GASKETS, &o.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

o. woruu'rua. wAsmNc UNITED STATES- Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE ADAM SCHEHR, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE CRANE & BREEDMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A COR- PORATION OF OHIO.

HANDLE FOR BURlAL-CASKETS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,800, dated June 28,1904.

Application filed February 2'7, 1903. Serial No. 145,452. (No model.)

To all whom, it mug concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE ADAM SoHEHR, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton andState of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inHandles for Burial-Caskets or the Like, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in handles of compositeconstruction such as are especially designed for use upon caskets,coffins, and the like and of which the handle shown and claimed in mypending patent application, Serial No. 134,342, filed December 8, 1902,is a type; and the object of the invention is to provide a handle ofthis general character of a simple, light, and inexpensive nature havingreinforcing means of an improved and simplified construction by means ofwhich the strength of the handle is greatly increased, so as toobviate-accidental breakage thereof, the construction and arrangement ofthe several parts of the improved handle according to my invention beingsuch that the increased strength is attained without making the handleclumsy or unsightly in its proportions and without unnecessarilyincreasing the cost of manufacturing the same.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction,combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved casketor coffin handle whereby certain important advantages are attained andthe device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted andmore convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken vertically and centrally through thehandle in a plane at right angles to the plane of the section in Fig. 2,the swinging arm of the handle being in raised position and a portion ofthe wall of the casket or coflin being shown in section to illustratethe relation of the handle thereto. Fig. 4 is a View showing in frontelevation the reinforcing member of the escutcheon-plate detached andenlarged, and Fig. 5 is a view showing the same part in side elevation.Fig. 6 is a view showing said reinforcing member as seen from its underor lower side. Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the reinforcingmember for the swinging arm detached and enlarged. Fig. 8 is a partialunder side view showing, detached and enlarged, that end of thereinforce for the swinging arm through which is passed the hand-bar.Fig. 9 is a partial enlarged sectional view taken through the free endof the swinging arm at the lower side thereof and showing the means foranchoring the outer extremity of the reinforcing member thereof.

As shown in the views, the improved handle is made in a well-known styleand comprises an escutcheon-plate adapted for attachment by means ofscrews to the side of a casket or coifin and a swinging arm held by apivotal connection to the escutcheon-plate and having a circular loop atits free end adapted for the passage of a hand-bar to be grasped by thehand of a bearer in lifting and bearing the casket or coffin. There arecommonly two escutcheon-plates and swinging arms employed in connectionwith each hand-bar, the hand-bar being extended between the swingingarms; but since the invention relates more especially to the improvedconstructionof the escutcheon-plate andits swinging arm I have hereinshown only these parts.

1 indicates as a whole the escutcheon-plate of the improved handle, andthis plate is usually cast from soft metal, so that it may be plated andproperly ornamented, and is formed with openings 2 Qfor receiving screwsfor the attachment of the plate to the casket or coffin. Theescutcheon-plate is for lightness hollowed at its rear face; but at thepoints where openings 2 are located the rear surface is cast with lugs3, through which the openings extend, the lugs being adapted to engagetheside surface of the casket, as indicated in Fig. 3. The central partof plate 1 has an outwardlyextended bearing portion or socket-piece 4 ofrounded form, which is hollowed out, as seen at 5, to produce a chamberor socket, at opposite sides of which are produced lugs 6 6, spacedapart, as seen at 7, and perforated for the passage of a pivot-pin 8,whereon is pivotally held the swinging arm 9, the pivotal end 10 ofwhich is received in the chamber or socket and the outer free end ofwhich is formed with a circular ring or loop 11, through which is passedthe hand-bar 12, as shown in Figs. 3 and 9. The pivotal end of theswinging arm is made rounded or semispherical at its upper part to fitsnugly in the opening or socket 5 and to play therein when said arm ismoved pivotally, the structure being such that said end of the arm fillsand closes the socket at all times. At its pivotal point the arm 9 ismade in reduced thickness, being recessed at opposite sides, as shown inFig. 2 of the drawings, and the lugs 6 6 at opposite sides of the socket5 are made to extend toward each other within said socket, so as to beadapted to enter the above-mentioned recesses at opposite sides of thearm 9.

The escutcheon-plate 1 is provided with a reinforcing or strengtheningmember 13, which is in the manufacture of said plate embedded in thesoft-metal body portion thereof. The reinforcing member 13 has an archedupper part 14 extended across the rounded upper side of the socket 5, inwhich the pivotal end of arm 9 engages, and said arched part is extendedacross through the escutcheon-plate from the rear surface thereof, whereits rear edge is adapted to bear against the side surface 00 of thecasket or coflin to which the handle is secured, to the front surface ofthe socket portion 4 of the plate 1, so that when arm 9 is raised thestrains imposed in lifting and bearing the casket or coffin will beexerted on the said arched portion 14 of the reinforce and will betransmitted by it to the side surface a: of the casket or cofiin insteadof being imposed upon the soft-metal body portion of theescutcheon-plate, which would be thereby crushed and broken.

The member 13 is formed from sheet metal of suitable strengthsuch assheet-steel, for example-and has side portions 15 15 extended down fromthe arched upper part 14 and at the opposite sides of the socket 5 andprovided with forwardly extended perforated lugs 16 16, embedded in thesoft-metal lugs 6 6, which project toward each other at the sides ofsaid socket 5. So far as described the construction of the handle issimilar to that shown and claimed in my above-mentioned patentapplication, and Imake no claim herein to such features as are shown anddescribed therein; but in carrying out my present invention the saidlugs 16 of the sheet-metal reinforce are extended or bent toward eachother so that they may stand when the arm 9 is in place as closelyadjacent to the sides of the arm as possible to reduce the bendingstrains upon the pivot-pin 8 whereby the arm is held to theescutcheon-plate.

Below the lugs 16 16 the side portions 15 of the reinforce 13 are formedwith extended portions 18 18 of reduced width, which are twisted andprovided with perforated and enlarged end portions 17 17, which are bentslightly away from each other and extend in a plane at right angles tothe planes in which the side portions 15 of the reinforce extend. Theseenlargements are embedded in the lower part of the plate 1 below thesocket-piece4 and have their perforations alined with the openings 2 2,through which. are passed the screws for holding the plate 1 to thecasket or coffin, so that when the screws are inserted in the openings 2the steel arch-brace or reinforcing member 13 will be securely held inplace upon the side of the casket or cofiin with the rear edge of itsupper arched part 14 hearing against the side surface :0 thereof.

The arm 9 is usually formed from east soft metal also, so that it may beplated and ornamented with any desired design, and within it is embeddeda reinforcing or strengthening member 19,also preferably formed fromsheetsteel or other strong material, having a perforation through whichthe pivot-pin 8 extends and having a portion 20 within the pivotal endportion 10 of the arm and adapted to bear against the shoulder producedin the escutcheon-plate at the base of the socket 5 when the arm 9 israised, as shown in Fig. 3. The pivotal end of the arm 9 has a shoulderupon its upper or front side, which shoulder is adapted when the arm israised to engage upon the front surface of the projecting socket portion4 of plate 1, and within said shoulder the member 19 has a projectingportion 21, as clearly shown in the drawings. The opposite free end ofthe member 19 is extended along the length of the arm 9 and is adjacentto the loop 11 thereof twisted upon itself, so that the extremity of thereinforce 19 extends in a plane at right angles to that portion whereinthe opening for pivotpin 8 is formed, the bent or twisted part beingshown at 22, and the said extremity of the member 19 is bent into acircular or rounded form, as shown at 23, and is extended around andembedded in said loop 11 at the end of the arm 9, so as to reinforce andstrengthen the same at the point where the arm receives the hand-bar 12.The extreme end 24 of the member 19 is spaced away from the part thereofat which the bend 22 is formed, and said end has its opposite side oredge portions formed with notches or recesses 25 25, as

lIO

shown in Figs. 3, 7 and 8, in which the soft metal of the arm 9 isadapted to run when the same is cast, so as to anchor and hold said endof the reinforce 19 in position. By means of the notches or recesses 2525 the portion of the member 19 beyond said notches is caused to projectat opposite sides of the member, and the lateral projections thus formedengage the soft cast metal of the arm to effectively anchor the member19 therein. At a point beyond the notches 25 the said end of thereinforce 19 is also formed with a centrally-arranged slotted orelongated opening 26, in which the soft metal of the arm is also adaptedfor a similar purpose to run when the same is cast, and in the softmetal within said opening 26 of the reinforce is adapted to be passed ascrew for holding the hand-bar securely within the loop of the arm 9, asshown in Fig. 9, wherein 27 indicates the soft metal within the opening26 of the reinforce 19, and 28 represents the screw passed through suchsoft metal and engaged at its inner end with the hand-bar 12.

The construction of the improved casket or coffin handle with theimproved strengthening means for its escutcheon-plate and swinging armas herein set forth is extremely simple and inexpensive and isespecially well adapted for use, since it affords a very considerableincrease in the strength and rigidity of the structure, so thataccidents from breakage or crushing of the parts of the handle areavoided. The lugs 16 of the steel arch-brace of the escutcheon-platebeing bent toward each other add materially to the strength of thestructure, since these lugs 16 are thereby embedded in the portions ofthe lugs 6 6 which project toward each other in socket 5 and engage inthe recesses at the pivot-point of arm 9, the bent portions of lugs 16being thus brought closely adjacent to the sides of the thinnest portionof the swinging arm, so that there is less liability of the pivot-pin 8being bent or broken, and the anchoring of the free outer extremity 24L-of the reinforce for the arm 9 serves to prevent straightening of thecurved end of said reinforce, whereby the connection of the arm 9 withthe handbar would be destroyed and the handle broken.

It will also be obvious from the above description that the improvedhandle constructed according to my invention is capable of considerablemodification without material departure from the principles and spiritof the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood aslimiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the device hereinset forth in carrying out my invention in practice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. A casket or cofiin handle having an escutcheon formed with a socketand having at the sides of the socket lugs extended in the same, saidescutcheon comprising a soft-metal body and a reinforce embedded thereinaround the upper part of the socket with perforated lugs within the lugsat the sides of the socket, the perforated lugs of the reinforce beingbent and extended toward each other and being positioned at the adjacentsides of the lugs of the escutcheon-plate, a swinging arm having an endengaged in the socket and having at its sides recesses in which thelugsof the escutcheon are engaged and a pivot pin passed through theswinging arm and through the perforated lugs of theescutcheon-reinforce.

2. A casket or coflin handle comprising an escutcheon-plate having asocket provided with perforated lugs at opposite sides, a pivotpinextended across the, socket and held at its ends in the lugs, a swingingarm formed from soft metal and having one end held on the pivot -pin andengaged in said socket, the other end of the arm having a loop adaptedto receive a hand-bar, and a hard-metal reinforcing member embedded inthe soft metal arm and extended from the pivotal end thereof to andaround the loop and having an extremity arranged at the under side ofthe loop and provided with recesses in which the soft metal of the armis engaged to anchor said extremity and prevent straightening of thesame, substantiallyas set forth.

3. A casket or coflin handle comprising an escutcheon-plate having asocket provided with lugs at opposite sides, a pivot-pin extended acrossthe socket and held in said lugs, a swinging arm of soft metal held onthe pivotpin and engaged in the socket, the free end of the arm having aloop to receive a hand-bar, a hard-metal reinforcing member embedded insaid arm and extended from the pivotal point to and around the loopthereof and having its extremity arranged at the under side of the loopand provided with a perforation through which the soft metal of the armis passed, and a screw passed through the soft metal of the arm withinsaid perforation and adapted for engagement with the hand-bar Within theloop to hold the same to the arm, substantially as set forth.

Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 24th day of February, 1903.

GEORGE ADAM SCHEHR. Witnesses:

OLIVER D. BRYANT, JOHN ELIAS J ONES.

